What is your view of Jesus? The Apostle John recorded that many people believed in His name:

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. (John 2:23)

Jesus garnered a great deal of popularity, especially since He had just turned the water into wine. How would you describe their allegiance to Jesus? Could it be that they were more interested in what Jesus could do for them? What did Jesus think of these followers?

But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, (John 2:24)

The word entrusting is the same Greek word as believed in preceding verse. These people believed in Jesus, but He did not believe in them. Could these be the type of people that Jesus described in the parable of the four soils? When they heard the word and saw Jesus perform signs, they believed in Him. The problem is they had no firm root in themselves, but it was only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arose they would fall away.

As we go through life, people will disappoint us. Jesus experienced this in His life, but He did not become discouraged or grow cynical. He understood the heart of man:

and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. (John 2:25)

We too must understand the heart of man. We may have a tendency to think that if people have the right environment then they will transcend their selfishness. Unfortunately, experience does not demonstrate that this is always true. We need to be disillusioned about mankind. An illusion is a false idea. To be disillusioned is to disabuse ourselves of false ideas and confront the brutal facts of reality.

Jesus came to redeem mankind from sin and yet He knew that they would reject Him. He knows that we can be prideful and rebellious, yet He voluntarily gave His life so that we might have life.

Jesus knows the heart of man, but we often don’t know our own hearts. We also may not have the correct view of God. We may have a view of God who will meet our every need and make us comfortable. That is a God of our imagination. God made man in His image and man has been returning the favor ever since. God is more concerned with your holiness than your happiness. Saving belief is not mere intellectual assent:

You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. (James 2:19)

True belief is a commitment of the heart that is manifested in our everyday behavior. This is not sinless perfection but a heart that seeks to obey God and is broken over one’s sin. The key question we must ourselves is, “Would Jesus entrust Himself to me?”

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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